We are Officially Home Owners

That's right, today, Paul & I closed on our first home together and we couldn't be more excited.  It's been a super crazy month with all the travel and business with work, but we still managed to find the home of our dreams and work out all of the details in order to close before the end of 2011.  We'll post pictures soon, but until then we wish everyone a Merry, Merry Christmas.

Punta Cana Anniversary Trip

When Paul & I first got married, we sat down and wrote a list of the places that we wanted to see together and the things that we wanted to do together.  The list keeps on growing as we each think of new things that we want to experience with one another, but amazingly in our first 2 years of marriage we've managed to check quite a few off of our ever growing list:

1. Get a dog (which was the best decision ever)
2. Drive the coast of California
3. Go on a cruise
4. Take a trip to New York
5. See Niagara Falls
6. Disney World

To mark 6 things off of our list isn't too bad in only 2 years of marriage and even better is that we just marked a 7th item off of our list the day before our Anniversary:

    7.    Stay at an all-inclusive resort

If you ever decide to stay at an all-inclusive (which I would highly recommend) you have to stay at one of the Excellence Resorts.  The staff was great, the food was great, the drinks were great, the rooms were great and the beach was beautiful.  The only thing negative we have to say about it is that the resort is about an hour away from the airport so you have to take a cab to and from the airport ($70 each way), but other than that is was perfect!

Side Note: 2011 has really been a hard year for my mom.  Not only did her mother pass away but my parents also had to put down Bailey, their 12 year old Shih-Tzu.  In addition to all of that, they've recently decided to live full time at their farm so they put their house on the market - which is the house that they've lived in for almost 30 years (it's also the house we grew up in), so when Paul & I were planning this trip we decided to invite my parents along since we knew they really needed the rest & relaxation.  I know it sounds crazy to invite our parents on an anniversary trip but we love hanging out with both sets of parents so why not ask them to come along for the fun?

Now to the good stuff, the pictures: (please excuse the date on some of the pictures but one of our cameras was set for 2009).

They have beautiful birds all over the place and this one in particular climbed up my dad's arm and ate one of the buttons off of his shirt.  He also got a hold of one of my hair ties but we missed a picture of that

We relaxed in the sun

and relaxed in the shade

The food was wonderful

and I even won a little money in the casino :)

My favorite spot was in one of the chairs in the pool - you can barely see me lounging across the pool

We went on a bicycle tour one afternoon

and we only had bad weather 1 afternoon of the whole trip

We visited the Dominican Wal-Mart, Home Depot & Kohl's :)

We even got to ride horses

A closer shot of my favorite spot at the pool

 If you stay at the resort for your anniversary they fill your tub with a bubble bath and give you champagne and fruit - and you also get towel swans :)

 This was the view from our room - - - so beautiful

I had to get a head shot of our crazy cab driver that just about killed us by hitting a speeding school bus while singing "I will always love you" and "Red, red wine" - it was hilarious.

 More towel swans

 Champagne & fruit

The resort had a show every night and this was a tribute show to Michael Jackson and the dancing was awesome!!!

We all had such a great trip, we just wished it could have lasted a little bit longer.

Now back to reality, happy Tuesday!!!

12.13.2009

Pauly,
Happy 2 year Anniversary!  I thank God every single day for blessing me with the most handsome, caring, kind hearted, funny, adorable, loving husband that I could have ever hoped and prayed for.  You are my partner for life and I promise to love you forever and ever.
                                    

Side Note: This is a picture from our recent trip to Punta Cana to celebrate our 2nd Anniversary.  More pictures & stories are to come :)

Happy Birthday Paul!!!

Paul,  I could not have been blessed with a more amazing husband.  You are not only the love of my life but you are my best friend in the whole wide world.  Thank you for choosing me to be your wife, I can't wait to spend another 33 (plus 33 more, plus 33 more, plus 33 more) years with you :)

Happy 33rd Birthday Pauly!

Thanksgiving

We spent most of the long Thanksgiving weekend at my parents farm this year and we had a great time with the Rawson side of the family (my dad's side).  We missed not having my sister in town but we're all really excited that she'll be coming to Florida for most of the month of December - Yippee!!!  We're also sad that we didn't get a chance to spend time with the Gerrety's for Thanksgiving, especially now that Sophie is here, but we're going to take a trip around Christmas to go spend time with them.

Here are a few photos my mom took from Thanksgiving:

 Everyone passed around the turkey hat that I got my dad for Thanksgiving last year

 Dad wore his hat with the hair that I bought him for our trip to California earlier this year.  Sorry for my facial expression but I must have been mid bite :)

 Pauly did most of the dishes - I tell you, they don't get much better :)

Here we are, relaxing with Teddy, after all of the extended family went home

We had a great time spending time at the farm for most of the weekend, we did however breakaway for a night to spend some time with a few friends back in Gulf Breeze: 

 

We finished up our weekend at the farm by taking our photos for our Christmas cards this year - I can't wait to post the pictures, they are hilarious, but that'll have to be after they get sent out :)

What's Been Going On

I say this all the time and once again I'm saying it: life has been nothing less than a crazy hurricane lately.  Just to fill you in, we've traveled back home for a wedding, had company in town to visit, become aunt and uncle to a beautiful neice, and we've also been house shopping with every free moment that we have.  Not to mention we both have to work in the middle of all that.  Thankfully we'll be off to my parent's farm for the Thanksgiving weekend so it will be a much needed break away from the craziness of life - four wheelers, bass & brim fishing, skeet shooting, yummy food, family time, camp fires, scuppernongs, and the best part - - - ZERO CELL PHONE SERVICE!!!  Hopefully we'll all get some much needed rest and relaxation and Monday won't come around quite so fast as we're used to.

On a side note, the wedding we attended back in GB was for Paul's best friend who is also a Paul, and his now wife Brigette.  We went to high school with both the bride and groom and we consider them both long time friends.  I wish we had taken more photos but I did get a couple that are worth sharing:

 I was sitting right behind where Paul stood as a groomsman so naturally he had to make a face when I took his picture - - - I love that man :)

 Bride & Groom saying their vows (wait till you see her dress, it's gorgeous)

 The whole wedding party.  That's Pauly on the back right

 A lot of our friends brought their babies so Paul spent most of the night hanging out with the babies (he is so good with kids - - - just another reason I married him)

 Bride & Groom cutting their cake

 This is a random picture that someone else took with my camera because Paul and I are standing in the far left of this picture (I have the brown skirt & white jacket) - - - at least I got my camera back :)

 Bride & Groom dancing their first dance together - - - I told you her dress was amazing!!!

 Mama T (my mother-in-law) breaking it down on the dance floor (she's the one on the right)

 Some of the flowers used in the arrangements

 The grooms cake, it was a suitcase before it was half eaten.  They love to travel together so it fit them perfectly, not to mention it was one of the coolest grooms cakes I've ever seen.

This was the big arrangement in the middle of the room - - - this photo was taken the morning after so it really doesn't do it justice.

We had such a great time getting to spend time with so many close friends and we couldn't be more excited for Paul & Brigette.

Until Next Time,

Happy Thanksgiving!!!